You are the standard bearers of your race.

From you they will receive their first impression regarding its merits.

Let it be a favorable one.

Compel those Selenites to acknowledge, in spite of themselves, that the terrestrial race of canines is far superior to that of the very best Moon dog among them!" "Dogs in the Moon!" sneered M'Nicholl, "I like that!" "Plenty of dogs!" cried Ardan, "and horses too, and cows, and sheep, and no end of chickens!" "A hundred dollars to one there isn't a single chicken within the whole Lunar realm, not excluding even the invisible side!" cried the Captain, in an authoritative tone, but never taking his eye off the chronometer.
"I take that bet, my son," coolly replied Ardan, shaking the Captain's hand by way of ratifying the wager; "and this reminds me, by the way, Mac, that you have lost three bets already, to the pretty little tune of six thousand dollars." "And paid them, too!" cried the captain, monotonously; "ten, thirty-six, six!" "Yes, and in a quarter of an hour you will have to pay nine thousand dollars more; four thousand because the Columbiad will not burst, and five thousand because the Projectile will rise more than six miles from the Earth." "I have the money ready," answered the Captain, touching his breeches pocket.

"When I lose I pay.